Skip
Hoagland
(who was profiled in our July 2008 Cover
Story) owns one of the world's best
geodomain portfolios, including many well
developed websites like Atlanta.com, BuenosAires.com,
SouthCarolina.com and HiltonHead.com
(he also owns may category defining generic sites
like Fishing.com and Shooting.com).

Skip
is a local media veteran who got started by
publishing magazines for visitors to tourist
destinations like Hilton Head Island and Myrtle
Beach. Local magazines, newspapers, radio, TV
and geo oriented websites like Skip's
depend, of course, upon advertising dollars to
stay in business.

Many
of them join their local Chambers of Commerce
thinking that their membership in the non-profit
organizations would help boost

tourism
and thus their own businesses, but for
more than a year now, Hoagland has been sounding
an alarm that just the opposite was
happening! Hoagland showed that local
chambers all over the country, many of which are
supported with taxpayer money, were competing
against their own members by selling ads to
publications and websites the Chambers starting
putting out on their own. Hoagland
decided it was time togo to the mat.

He just filed
a lawsuit against the Hilton Head
Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce that
operates in his South Carolina backyard,
demanding detailed financial information,
including invoices, contracts and checks written
by the Chamber. Hoagland claims the Chamber,
which receives tax money levied on accommodations
by Hilton Head and Beaufort County, unfairly
competes with its owns members andwastes
taxpayer money by paying some employees
exorbitant salaries (including the local CEO's
compensation of more than $320,000) and
approving lavish expenses.

Hoagland has
also filed complaints with the IRS about
this kind of situation going on in major
cities throughout the country, claiming
the are violating their non-profit
charters through their current
activities.

Hoagland
first told me he was taking up this battle
in an October 2011 letter in which he
wrote, "It is not only an unfair
competitive advantage with being a 501-C3
non-profit and using bed-tax monies
and members dues that compete with
local medias, but simply against the
charter of a Chamber, which is to support
and help their business

members
prosper within the community. Chambers
just seem to not be able to support
themselves from member dues and additional
tax monies and continue to launch for-profit
side ventures to do so."

As the situation
has only gotten worse since then,
Hoagland has pressed the battle on all fronts
(including an assault on the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce), alerting media outlets across
the country, demanding federal action as an IRS
whistle blower and filing lawsuits against individual
chambers. This kind of fight takes a lot of time
and money but Hoagland insists is in it for as
long as it takes and with each passing week
he is building support for his efforts from
other local media outlets who become aware of a
situation that is hazardous to their health. You
can read more about Hoagland's crusade at StopChamberAbuse.com.

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